Monday, April 23, 2018

"Can Anything Good Come From Nazareth?"

I've heard this quote before. It's from a man named Nathanael talking about Jesus. A friend had told Nathan they had found the Messiah, but when Nathan heard He was from Nazareth he didn't believe it.

For so long I've heard this told from a hoity-toity point of view. From a "better than you" type mindset" but something I read the other day challenged that. Nathan was from Galilee, an area also considered by the rich and religious to be the armpit of Israel.

The question is, when Nathan said this was he thinking he was better than Jesus? Or was it more of a, "we're all from the slums, how can anything good come from us?"

How often has the second idea stopped us? I'm not good enough, smart enough, people don't like me, whatever it may be, we wear that badge and see God through our circumstances. We don't see God working in our lives because we see ourselves as in the slums and God can't work here.

Maybe this is also why Jesus praised Nathanael the first time He met him. Jesus gave Nathan a huge compliment and built him up. Called him a man of complete integrity (wouldn't you like Jesus to say that about you?).

Now, after knowing the whole story we who are thousands of miles and thousands of years have no problem saying God can do something amazing in Nazareth. But are we able to say God can do that where you live too?

T

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